Friday morning brought a couple changes to our river town: the colder winds called for us all to break out our finest flannels, and the arrival of the grande dame of the river, the American Queen. Both of these changes are cause for excitement, but for the time being I am going to focus on the Queen.

Now, at our brewery, we don’t normally take the time to venture through Levee park as often as we should. However the lure of a six story floating hotel, that looks like it came straight from the pages of ‘Life on the Mississippi’ was too much for us to resist. Like a group of kids on a field trip, we oohed and aahed as we walked along her side, marveling at her glory. As we watched the passengers disembark to explore our community, I felt a connection to them.

See, I have recently moved to Winona. And while my days are spent trying to hurry along our construction process to get you all the best beer possible, my time has also been spent getting to know my new town. From trying my first Bloedow’s donut, to swimming in the river, I’m trying to experience as much of the area as I can. I know there will be time, but like the Queen’s guests, I can’t help but be excited about being here.

On Friday afternoon the American Queen slipped her moorings, and headed back downstream to her next port of call. So while the passengers of the Queen are now off exploring a new community, I get to stay in Winona and become a part of one. While she keeps moving down the river like a beautiful dream, I’m sticking around to deepen my roots in my new home.